During his travels as a diplomat and statesman, Niccolò Machiavelli made many observations about effective national leadership. He recorded these thoughts in his famed treatise, The Prince, and the methodology he suggests there is at times both brutal and impersonal. Perhaps his most well-known conclusion is that there are many cases where the ends justify the means—that the final destination is far more important than the road to get there. Such seems to be the approach taken by the Institute administration as it has attempted to resolve the issue of faculty governance at Rensselaer.
Unfortunately, RPI is not a feudal state, and these aren’t the Middle Ages. While the provost, president, and the Board of Trustees are attempting to address a very valid issue, the methods they are using are, at the least, inflammatory. From the language used—such as the word “supplant” in the text of the Board resolution—to the virtual absence of input the faculty had in the procedure, a general lack of respect was apparent in the chain of events that led to the effective dissolution of the Faculty Senate. Unlike a medieval monarch, however, this disregard for the individuals most affected by these changes could have dramatic repercussions for the functioning and well-being of the Institute.
In a community built on mutual respect and enlightened participation, it is imperative that all its members are able to work as a team in spite of their differences. Using sudden force rather than diplomacy to solve the issues at hand endangers those relationships. This is particularly true in light of the already existing tensions between the administration and faculty. It is truly disheartening to see this careless approach; a proper solution to the problems at hand would have involved the provost mediating a solution rather than imposing one.
That being said, while the means being used are reprehensible, the end the administration is trying to achieve is honorable. The problems with the current faculty governance structure aren’t imagined; the system has proven to be both inconsistent and inefficient in recent years, and it hasn’t been formally reviewed in well over a decade. Furthermore, while many may disagree with the Board directive to change the definition of faculty, the inconsistencies that resulted from it cannot continue to be ignored, and progress toward a resolution is a good thing.
With that in mind, it is important that all involved parties cooperate in these endeavors from here on out. Change is both necessary and imminent; as a body, the Faculty Senate is currently ineffective and inefficient, and that is not acceptable. The damage to administration-faculty relations in the past few weeks cannot be taken back, and the only way to begin to heal the wound is to move on. We implore the faculty to accept this and to embrace the review, working with the Office of the Provost to create a better governance structure and lead Rensselaer into the future.
